Archive for the ‘Circuit Protection’ Category

Marine electrical questions?

June 28th, 2010 by Kevin Hannula

Marine Ac/Dc attempts to answer your questions about boat wiring and marine electrical techniques, concepts, and products. We get lots of mail from folks in mid-project or who are just curious about their boat’s electrical setup.

There are loads of post already on the site which we hope you will browse through. If you’re trying to track down info about a more specific category, please use the search box in the upper right of this page or check out the list of various subjects farther down on this page.

If you aren’t able to find the info that you need to complete your particular boat wiring project, please send us an email at boatwiring@gmail.com.

Thank you for visiting. We look forward to hearing from you and hope that you will be able to come back often.

Posted in Battery Charger, Battery Switch, Boat Wiring, Bow Thruster, Circuit Protection, Corrosion, Cruisers, Gauge Panels, Harnesses, Marine Electrical, Navigation Lights, Pontoons, Runabouts, Signaling Devices, Switch Panels, Testing, Trolling Motors, Uncategorized, VSR, Wipers | Comments Off

Bigger Breaker

February 13th, 2012 by Marine Ac/Dc

Kevin,

When replacing my factory installed circuit breakers, I noticed the breaker for the bilge pump is only rated at 4 amps.

My Rule bilge pump, (also factory installed) is labeled “12 Volt 6 amp fuse”. The specifications I found on line say this pump draws 3.3A at 12 volts and 5.0 amps at 13.6 volts. I assume the boat wiring size used is typical for bilge pump installation. (appears to be 14-16 Ga.?) Carling breaker

Should I install a larger circuit breaker with this set-up? I am thinking a 7 Amp would be sufficient?

The boat is a 2002 Sea Pro 235 WA with two batteries.

Thank You

Shonna

Hi Shonna,

I would go with the 7 amp breaker.

7 amps will not exceed the current carrying capacity of your wire, will help reduce nuisance tripping of the breaker under full load, but will trip under a locked rotar condition.

Thanks

Kevin

Posted in Bilge Pumps, Boat Wiring, Breakers, Circuit Protection, Cruisers, Marine Electrical, Pontoons, Runabouts, Sailboats | Comments Off

Glen-L Wiring

January 30th, 2012 by Marine Ac/Dc

Kevin,

I am building a 16′ wooden bass boat using the Glen-L design and it is about 80% complete. I am now getting ready to outfit the interior, build the helm, purchase my motor, etc.

I have visited your sister boat wiring site and it looks like just what I will need due to its simplified “plug and play ” approach. What I am looking for is advice on everything I will need to wire my boat using EzAcDc marine electrical.

My boat wiring needs include:

In summary, I need everything and look to your recommendation to help me get what I need to fully wire my boat from the boat wiring harness to fuses, circuit breakers, switches, etc.

Thank you.

Kelly

Hi Kelly,

Your boat sounds great! Thank you for your interest in the products at our sister site.

Here is the boat wiring that I would recommend.

  • Fully wired eight switch marine electrical panel. This comes with one panel mounted 12 volt receptacle and you will want to add a second remote outlet.
  • Boat wiring harness that quickly snaps together with the panel above.
  • Smart Battery Switch system for two batteries. This includes cables, ground bus, and you will want to add a couple of battery boxes.
  • Navigation lights are controlled by the nav/anc switch in your new switch panel. Wiring for split red and green lights and a single white stern light is included with the boat wiring harness. The site has a variety of Attwood LED navigation light kits that may suite your needs. All come with connectors so that they will snap right onto the new harness.
  • I would run 8 AWG tinned wire for your trolling motor.
  • Please send me the specs and length of total wire run for the power winch to determine the cable size requirements.
  • Currently we do not stock a trolling motor connection. My preference in the Marinco Connect Pro System.
  • You can use one of the switches on the new panel for the stereo. The new panel will even include a pre-printed “STEREO” switch cap. There is a ground, constant power (memory), and switched power coming off of the back of the switch for a stereo. We do not include speaker wire.
  • The boat wiring harness has two breakouts for courtesy lights. The switch panel kit also includes a “COURTESY LIGHTS” switch cap.
  • We do not have fish finders, but you can get power for your fish finder from one of the breakers on your new switch panel.
  • The switch panel comes pre-wired with a horn button and the boat harness includes wiring for a horn.
  • We also have boat horns that will attach easily onto the new harness.
  • We do not have gauges. Most of the gauge wiring will be included with your engine harness.
  • Our harness comes with one bilge pump and auto float switch connection. You can either run a second pump from one of the switch panel accessory wire breakouts or you can use the livewell pump breakout for a second pump.
  • No additional fuse panel is needed. The switches have circuit breakers mounted directly below them on the panel. The main harness battery connection has an in-line circuit breaker for harness protection.

Thank you again for your consideration. I hope this helps,

Kevin

Kevin,

My boat anchor winch is the Deck Mate 19 Small Boat Anchor Windlass from West Marine. The draw is 15 amps @ 12 volts and the winch includes a built in 15A circuit breaker. The length of wire from the helm to the power winch at the bow is roughly 9 feet. Please advise cable size requirement.

Thank you.

Kelly

Hi Kelly,

18′ run total @ 15 amps with 3% drop, I would run 10 AWG wire.

Kevin

Posted in Anchor Lights, Battery cables, Battery Switch, Bilge Pumps, Boat Batteries, Boat Wiring, Bow Light, Circuit Protection, Courtesy Lights, Engine Harness, Fuel Gauge, Gauge Panels, Harnesses, Harnesses-DC, Horn, LED Lights, Marine Electrical, Masthead Lights, Navigation Lights, Rope Lights, Smart Battery Switch, Switch Panels, Trolling Motors, VSR | Comments Off

Columbia Rewire

December 5th, 2011 by Marine Ac/Dc

Hello Kevin,

I’ve recently became the owner of a Columbia 22 sailboat built in 1969. I’ve gutted the boat wiring from her and need to rewire.

I need bow port and starboard navigation lights and some minor interior lights she currently has a white masthead light at the cross tree and a transom light. Both of them seem to look fine however I would like to convert to LED for all the lighting.Attwood is the world's top supplier of navigation lights for boats

She also has in place a Guest battery switch

I’m considering buying everything that I need from your snap-together boat wiring site.  But, before I do, can you tell me everything that I will need?

I think I need to control three separate lighting systems

  1. The red and green bow lights
  2. Masthead and stern
  3. Interior lights
  4. Perhaps nav/GPS and cell phone charger?

Any help would be appreciated. Your snap together wiring system seems like a real timesaver, but I didn’t want to get the wrong parts.

Finally, do you also furnish instructions on how it all hooks up to everything including battery?

Thanks again

Peter

Hi Peter,

I would start with our smaller boat wiring harness. This will provide wiring for your red/green boat lights, your white, all-round light, and interior lights.

On your boat, I would combine this harness with our five switch marine electrical panel. This panel will provide switches for your nav/anc and stern lights along with your cockpit courtesy lights.

We have several navigation light kits that plug directly into our wiring harness. Simply choose the mounting configuration for your boat.

The installation is easy and instructions are provided.

I would keep the Guest battery switch in the system. The main power connection from your new boat wiring harness will connect to the battery switch to allow you to completely turn the power off when you leave your boat.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Posted in ABYC, Anchor Lights, Battery Switch, Boat Wiring, Bow Light, Circuit Protection, Courtesy Lights, Cruisers, Horn, Marine Electrical, Masthead Lights, Mood Lights, Navigation Lights, Sailboats | Comments Off

O’Day Dilemma

November 14th, 2011 by Marine Ac/Dc

Hello Kevin,

My boat wiring question is:

I have a 1979 37′ O’Day sailboat, with an Aft Cabin with the original 4 breaker terminal mounted on the locker.

When I bought the boat in 2000, I replaced the existing Loran with radar and wired it into the panel where the Loran had been and added a VHF radio to the back of the panel. Both have individual fuse protection. O'day Sailboat

Everything has worked fine until a few weeks ago when I noticed I have no power to the panel – cabin lights, engine room light, radar, radio, and autopilot do not work.

Both the positive and negative lines from the main power source in the forward part of the boat were tested by me and tested good.

I was told that it could be a ground problem. I looked at the negative marine electrical bus bar inside the locker and what is there are the negative wires from the accessories and the negative wire from the main bank in the forward part of the boat. There was also another 10 gauge wire but not attached to anything.

Should there be a ground wire attached to the buss bar to the engine and could this wire be my problem in that it somehow become disconnected?

I installed a new six breaker panel replacing the original; I installed a new 30 amp terminal (6 terminals) inside the locker and ran each accessory positive to it and then from there to the panel; Each accessory negative goes directly to the to the bus bar along with the 10 gauge negative wire from the main power source. The new panel has a negative bar which I also attached to the bus bar.

I then turned on each switch and they all light up meaning power is there. But when I turn on any of the accessories at the actual device they do not work and all the panel lights go off. When I turn off the individual accessory the panel lights will go back on. This happens with each item- cabin lights, engine room light, radio, radar, auto pilot.

Can you help me?

Confused

Jordan

Hi Jordan,

The problem is either in the feed wire or the ground wire.

The best way to find your problem is to test voltage levels when the system is under a load.

The panel indicator lights will initially turn on because the low current draw of the lights induces a small voltage drop in the wire. When you turn on a higher draw device, the voltage drop increases and the light turns off.

You will probably find a bad cable connection or hidden splice.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Thank you for your response.

While waiting to hear back from you, I continued to investigate the problem.

Although I found numerous other problems as the O’Day has the original wiring, the cause for the failure was due to corrosion inside the positive wire where it entered into the front panel for power. As I tried to pull the wire to locate it, it broke off and was corroded inside the insulation. The joys of an old boat.

I have rewired the entire aft by replacing all the wires and panel and everything is back in order.

Regards,

Jordan

Posted in Anchor Lights, Battery cables, Boat Batteries, Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Corrosion, Cruisers, Galley, Gauge Panels, Ground Issues, Harnesses-Dash, Harnesses-DC, Marine Electrical, Masthead Lights, Sailboats, Switch Panels, Testing, Voltmeter | Comments Off

There she blows

August 29th, 2011 by Marine Ac/Dc

Kevin

I have a 2002 Rinker Captiva 232 BR.

My transom light assembly blew and popped the breaker on the dash navigation light switch.

I reset the breaker and have nothing. In fact, nothing on that panel works including the radio! I still have the bilge blower and ignition. The rules of navigation lights for your boat wiring project.

Are there fuses somewhere or a main breaker that I could be missing?

Thanks!!

Justin

Hi Justin,

Your boat wiring should have a main feed breaker at the battery switch panel that provides the main power.

It is possible that your transom light tripped this breaker also. Some Rinkers used the ignition feed to power the blower. This would explain when the blower and ignition work, but nothing else does.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Posted in Anchor Lights, Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Marine Electrical, Navigation Lights, Pontoons, Runabouts | Comments Off

Automatic Attwood

August 22nd, 2011 by Marine Ac/Dc

Kevin,

Hello and thank you in advance.

I have an Attwood bilge pump that I would like to install. It has wires with three colors – black white and green.

I want to connect the pump to a switch which is labeled Automatic, Off and Manual. The wires on the pump are Positive, Manual Positive, and Negative.

Could you please tell me which wire goes where?

Norma

Hi Norma,

Here is how to set up the boat wiring for your new Attwood pump:

At bilge pump:

  • Black wire to pump negative
  • White wire to pump positive
  • Green wire to pump manual positive

At the switch:

  • Black wire to ground (not on switch)
  • White wire to automatic
  • Green wire to manual

Supply power to switch using appropriate circuit protection.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Posted in Bilge Pumps, Boat Batteries, Circuit Protection, Cruisers, Harnesses-DC, Marine Electrical | Comments Off

Direct Connect Inverter

July 18th, 2011 by Marine Ac/Dc

Kevin,

I have had a Marinco ConnectPro 12V DC outlet wired directly to my battery and mounted on the outside of my boat. The plug end is wired to a 750W inverter.

I was trying to come up with a way to power my boat lift since I cannot get shore power down to my dock. I would rather not connect the invertor directly to my battery for various reasons. 750 watt inverter

I can plug in a small inflator and everything works fine. Using a bigger inflator or my boat lift, and both devices cycle on and off like they are getting power , then losing power continuously.

According to the web site, the ConnectPro is rated for 30 amps.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

They cycle off and on because the voltage drop in the circuit is too great – the wire for the circuit is too small.

As soon as the current starts to climb, the voltage drop in the wire increase, the voltage to the device decrease, and they shut down due to low voltage.

I would not recommend using the ConnectPro for this application. A 750 watt inverter has the ability to draw over 60 amps. Even if you size the wire correctly, the plug will still overheat.

I would recommend connecting the inverter directly to the battery.

Good luck,

Kevin

Posted in Boat Batteries, Boat Lift, Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Marine Electrical, Shore Power, Shore Station | Comments Off

Houseboat Grounding

May 31st, 2011 by Kevin Hannula

Kevin,

I have questions on grounding both the 12 volt and 120 volt marine electrical on a houseboat. I have read the old threads regarding this matter but I am still thoroughly confused. Sorry that my post is long, but I am trying to explain clearly but simply:Boat Wiring Store has marine electrical products for your boat wiring project

Here is my set up:

The boat is 1976, steel hull. It has a shore power connection but because I am on a permanent mooring I do not connect to marina’s shore power.

Here are the original marine electrical systems and the boat wiring:

  1. 12 volt starting battery. Hot goes to engine starter and Negative cable on this battery is also landed at the engine. In looking how the engine is mounted, I don’t think that the engine (outboard) is isolated from the steel hull / frame.
  2. 12 volt house power: hot and negative battery cables go to marine electrical bus bars for each. These bus bars (hot and negative) then go to my 12 volt distribution panel, and to my 12 volt stereo/amp system. This 12 volt house system is not grounded anywhere that I can see. Question: Should it be grounded?
  3. 120 volt AC shore power system: Plug connection goes to a distribution panel. Typical 3 wire set up: Hot (black), Neutral (white), ground (green). I have not looked to see if the ground or neutral buses in this distribution panel are grounded anywhere on the boat. I don’t think it is, but I need to look again. Question: Should this be grounded? Because I am on a mooring, not in a slip, I never connect to actual land based shore power. When I do use this connection it is via my own portable generator on the boat. Fire up the genset, run a 30A shore power cord from gen. to shore power plug.
  4. New installation: I have connected a small 700W inverter from my 12 volt system just to run a few items (tool chargers, 120 volt rope lights, etc). The inverter has 2- 120V receptacles, no hard wire 120V. In the past I have plugged in an extension cord from the inverter to my rope lights. But, now I want to connect my rope lights through a permanently wired receptacle. I connected a 3-prong utility type cord (male plug on one end and open wires on the other). Intent to be to run this cord into a J-box where I could then run in conduit and wire to a switched receptacle for the rope lights. Funny thing is that when I checked the power coming from the 120V cord I get the following readings:
    • hot – ground: 110V
    • neutral to ground: 95 – 105V

    5. Is this correct? Shouldn’t this be 0 volts?

Everything works fine, but is this set up correct?
My biggest questions are: How should 12V system be grounded, How should 120V shore power be grounded (even though it doesn’t go to land based source), and is inverter power with current going through neutral correct?

Thanks very much for any help or clarity you can provide.

Paul

Hi Paul,

Regarding each of your boat wiring questions:

  1. You are correct. The engine is not isolated.
  2. The negative from your house battery should be tied to negative on your starting battery.
  3. Your AC ground and DC ground need to be connected to give a low resistance path to ground in the event of a major fault.
  4. Should be 0 volts.  Neutral and ground should be tied together at the inverter.
  5. AC ground should be connected to DC ground.  You should have a voltage reading of 0 Volts between AC ground and AC neutral.

I hope that this is helpful.

Kevin

Posted in AC Wiring, Battery Charger, Battery Switch, Boat Batteries, Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Corrosion, Cruisers, Galvanic Corrosion, Generator, Ground Issues, Marine Electrical, Shore Power, Voltmeter | Comments Off

Which Wire Where?

May 9th, 2011 by Kevin Hannula

Kevin,

I have a 2004 Trophy 2002 boat with dual batteries and a battery switch (off, 1, 2 both).Boat Wiring Store offers the internet's most complete line of battery cables.

I am confused with the boat wiring for the batteries.

  • The battery on the left facing the back of the boat has two wires. I assume red for positive and yellow is negative. I really can’t see where they are coming from.
  • The other battery  where the battery switch is located has a red wire coming from the battery switch which I assume is positive and a yellow coming from a grounding block (at least that what it looks like) which I assume is negative to the battery.

Then I have two more wires one black and one yellow. I assumed negative but not sure if I am correct and what they are for. Do you have any explanation if I connected these wires correctly or what those two extra wires are for?

Thanks,

Frank

Hi Frank,

Before making any assumptions on which wires connect to which posts on your battery, I strongly recommend tracing them to their origin.

In general, Red is battery positive and Black or Yellow is battery negative.

If you trace the red wires to a battery switch or distribution panel, you can assume these are the positive leads.

If you trace the yellow and black to a ground bus or engine negative terminal, you can assume these are the negative leads.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Posted in Battery Charger, Battery Switch, Boat Batteries, Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Galvanic Corrosion, Ground Issues, Marine Electrical, Pontoons, Runabouts, Testing, Voltmeter | Comments Off
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